Faith, Hope, and Ivy June

Faith, Hope, and Ivy June by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is classified as a novel for children, but I think many adults would enjoy it as well.  Ivy June lives in Thunder Creek, Kentucky, where phone lines don't go to every home and some people do not have indoor bathrooms.  Catherine lives in Lexington with the same amount of bathrooms as people in her home, plus her own cell phone.  Both girls sign up for a two week exchange program.  So Ivy June is off to the city to live with Catherine for two weeks, attending school with her friend.  Later, Catherine goes to spend two weeks with Ivy June in the mountains of Kentucky.  Life seems different in each place, but by the end of the story the two girls realize how much their are alike despite the outward differences.  This would be a good book to read aloud to sixth or seventh grade students.  It could lead to some good discussions.   

Love From the Very Hungry Caterpillar

Love from the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is a new book which could make the perfect gift for Valentine's Day.  It is small (less than 6 inches by 7 inches) and brief.  Each pair of pages has an illustration in classic Carle style along with a handful of words.  It is an illustrated love letter written with metaphors.  This is not going to replace my favorite Valentine's book (which is The Day it Rained Hearts), but I will definitely get this from the library each February to read to my students. 

2015

2015 is done.  I met some of my goals for this year.

• I read 14 nonfiction books (my goal was twelve).  Three I recommend are One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, Love Does by Bob Goff, and More or Less by Jeff Shinabarger.  
• In May I finished the Spanish portion of Duolingo.  
• In September I learned how to can salsa with the help of my sister.  

My hexagon quilt is not finished...it does not have much more completed than I had in January.  I could have completed, but like a few of my other quilt projects, it seemed like it was okay to set it aside for a bit.

There are also lots of things that I did that were not on my list of goals.

• I finished two quilts (click here and here to see them).  I also began another one. 
• I read 60 books.  A few of my favorites besides the nonfiction ones I mentioned above include The Rent Collector by Camron Wright, The Prayer Box by Lisa Wingate,  As Waters Gone By by Cynthia Ruchti, and Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner.
• My dad and I went on a week long vacation to northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, spending just one day in Michigan.
• The eighth annual Camp Clair was at my apartment with seven children in attendance.  It was short due to schedules, number of children, and limited space, but we had a good time.
• In August I returned to the teaching job that I have had since 2002.  It has been good to be back at work, though some days it seems so much busier than other years.  Maybe it is, or I just became accustomed to a less hectic pace while I was studying Spanish.

What did you do in 2015? 

Waiting

Waiting by Kevin Henkes is a book children will enjoy.  Five toys spend the majority of their time waiting at the window for different things-the moon, the snow, the wind, and the rain.  Then one day, a cat is added to the group.  The cat is also waiting, but for something completely different.  Henkes has done a good job creating another picture book for preschoolers and young elementary students.  Even my older students enjoyed the story-it facilitated a discussion on different things that we wait for.

Auggie and Me

If you read Wonder, then I would recommend reading Auggie and Me by R.J. Palacio as well.  It is not a sequel to Wonder, but a companion explaining different perspectives of Auggie's first year at Beecher Prep.  Written in first person, Julian, Christopher and Charlotte tell their story in regards to Auggie.  The author wrote it as if you had recently read Wonder, and since I read it over a year ago,  I had forgotten some of the characters.  Labeled a companion book, you would need to read the other book in order to make sense of this one.

First Snow

First Snow by Peter McCarty is a good picture book to add to a collection of books about snow. Pedro visits his cousin and friends and discovers what it is like to live where there is snow.  Some of McCarty's other characters are in this book-Henry from Henry in Love and Chloe from her self-titled book.  Brief text and great pictures makes this book great for sharing with preschoolers and elementary aged students at the beginning of winter.